Join us on Tuesday, April 10 in San Francisco!

Backbone: Courage for a Changing Workplace is an intimate conference to learn how to address harm and build inclusive culture at work for diversity & inclusion, HR, culture, & people professionals & people underrepresented in the workplace.

We will focus on the realities of addressing harm in the workplace - and what we can do to create inclusive culture. People of all ages and stages of career, all races and ethnicities, all genders, all sexual orientations, of different abilities, religions, and veteran status are welcome and will be seen, heard, and understood.

Backbone is pending approval from the State Bar of California for MCLE credit. 4.5 hours of MCLE credit are intended to be issued, including Recognition and Elimination of Bias credit.

our incredible lineup

Our expert facilitators have designed a powerful agenda to help you practice standing up against harmful behavior at work.

A: We will kickoff with a performance of a series of escalating workplace incidents between a young Black woman and her white woman manager.

Then we will break into small groups guided by experts.

For half the day, we will practice how to respond to this situation: how to intervene to heal and restore the parties, investigate, and persuade c-suite leaders to take action.

The other half of the day, we will focus on preventing situations like this from happening. We will create a roadmap to an equitable workplace, name and strategize on how to overcome our fears, and take a break for self care.

Throughout the day we will get to know each other to build our strength and community.

A: Both people who are frequently harmed at work and professionals whose responsibility it is to respond.

The learning experience will be enhanced if a group comes from a company.

Survivors of workplace harassment, bystanders, and people in charge of culture will all have the opportunity to practice speaking up in a totally safe and supportive environment, with feedback from experts and each other.

A: Backbone: Courage for a Changing Workplace is cheaper than litigation, a settlement, or a consultant to "fix" culture after a workplace incident blows up into a crisis. It's also cheaper than the costs of replacing employees who leave because of discrimination at work.

And we have applied for Continuing Legal Education and Society for Human Resources Management accreditation so it may count towards continuing education requirements, as well.

One, because Black women are leaders we all need to emulate. Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks and many other Black women changed society for the better because they did all they could with what they had in the situation right in front of them.

Two, because Black women got the laws passed that protect other marginalized groups. Black women did the grassroots work of the Civil Rights movement that got the 1964 Civil Rights Act banning workplace discrimination.

Three because although they got the law passed, fifty years later, Black women continue to face tremendous discrimination at work, including from white women. As a white woman who earlier in my career led teams with young Black women, I know I did things that harmed them.

I am fortunate to have many Black women mentors, mentees, and friends who have taught me how to change to be less harmful to them.

Their stories of harm by white women at work is what inspired me to found Racy Conversations and to organize Backbone.

Four because HR today is largely the province of white women and we have a lot of work to do in overcoming our own biases, including our bias towards currying favor with white men in positions of power.

Five because if we can create a workplace culture where young Black women can thrive on teams led by white women, our workplace culture will be a place where all people in marginalized groups can thrive.